Anton Guinea
Entrepreneur, Speaker, bestselling author, and founder of The Guinea Group of Companies. For over 15 years, Anton has helped leaders move their teams to become psychologically safe, physically safe and overall better versions of themselves.
Have you ever noticed how the choices you make quietly script the rest of your year as a leader?
I’ve spent a long time working with leaders and one thing I keep coming back to is this: the year never shapes itself. We shape it. The priorities we set early, the conversations we choose to have, the tone we create, the behaviours we reward, and even the small actions we repeat each week all add up. They either steady the team, or they wobble it. They either build confidence, or they build doubt.
And because I coach leaders who carry real pressure, I’ve seen how the start of a year can feel almost messy. You’re juggling deadlines, targets, staff who are returning from holidays, and your own headspace. That’s exactly why I wanted to write this piece, to remind you that what you prioritise now doesn’t just matter, it sets the rhythm for everything that follows.
Leaders shape the year by setting clear priorities
I often talk about how a leader’s certainty becomes a team’s stability. If you wobble, they wobble. If you stay grounded, they steady themselves. And one of the simplest ways to stay grounded is to set a handful of non-negotiable priorities that anchor your leadership for the next twelve months.
Sometimes that means focusing on people before progress. Sometimes it means cleaning up the noise. Sometimes it means having honest conversations you’ve been avoiding. Articles like this piece on psychological safety and clear priorities show how clarity has a direct impact on confidence and performance. When expectations are foggy, teams start guessing. When they know what matters, they start moving.
And here’s something I’ve noticed during coaching sessions: leaders often delay setting priorities because they fear getting them wrong. But the real issue isn’t choosing the wrong thing, it’s choosing nothing and hoping the year sorts itself out. It doesn’t.
If anything, picking a direction builds trust. Even if you refine it later.
Teams need early alignment
One of the strongest signals you can send at the start of a year is alignment. Not the forced type where everyone nods just to stay out of trouble, but genuine alignment where people understand the why before the what.
That’s why I often encourage leaders to bring their teams into planning sessions. Not a tick-the-box meeting, but real conversations where people feel safe to speak, challenge, question and shape the path forward. There’s some great research on this idea in studies such as this behavioural leadership research, which explores how collaboration drives long-term accountability.
And if you want a more practical perspective, this article on why planning sessions matter shows how shared decision-making strengthens clarity and improves focus across the whole organisation.
When teams help set the direction, they own the direction. It’s as simple as that.
The decisions you make now shape the rest of the year
Here’s something I see leaders wrestle with a lot: the pressure to make perfect decisions. And that pressure can be paralysing. The truth is, you don’t need perfect decisions, you need honest ones. You need decisions that reflect your real values, your real goals and your real expectations of the team.
I often think about how many leaders wait for “the right moment” to address issues, set goals or give feedback. But the right moment rarely appears on its own. You create it by choosing to act.
There’s strong evidence that decisive leadership early in the year has ripple effects for months. Articles like this reflection on vision and purpose highlight how intention shapes culture, and how culture shapes results. You can’t build strong performance on unclear expectations. People need something steady to hold onto.
Your wellbeing shapes your decision-making
Here’s something leaders often forget: your wellbeing is part of the strategy. If you start your year tired, overwhelmed, or mentally cluttered, your decision-making follows the same pattern. I see it in coaching all the time, a leader who is stressed will almost always default to reactive decisions instead of thoughtful ones.
Research into psychological safety supports this idea too. Studies like this analysis of emotional safety and leadership behaviour show how leader wellbeing directly affects a team’s comfort and performance.
So part of shaping the year ahead is shaping yourself. That might mean blocking time for reflection. It might mean learning to pause before reacting. Or it might mean asking your team to step up in certain areas so you’re not carrying everything alone.
Your team needs a safe space to speak up
I talk about psychological safety a lot because it’s the root of almost every strong team. If people don’t feel safe to speak, you’ll never hear the ideas, concerns, risks or insights that could make the year better. Silence doesn’t mean agreement, it often means discomfort.
The best leaders I’ve worked with don’t demand trust; they create spaces where trust can grow. Sometimes that means adjusting your tone. Sometimes it means asking better questions. Sometimes it means acknowledging that you don’t have all the answers.
If this is an area you want to work on before the year gets away from you, a culture-first psychological safety workshop can help you build the confidence and the tools to create a safer environment for your team.
Putting your priorities into action
Setting direction is one thing. Turning that direction into habits is where the real work sits. And habits are where leaders often fall over. Big goals sound great, but they’re heavy. Small steps, repeated consistently, are what carry a team forward. I’ve written about practical approaches to goal setting in this guide on shaping achievement behaviour, and the ideas still apply today.
For some leaders, the action might be weekly team check-ins. For others, it might be simplifying workloads so your team can focus. For others still, it might be tightening communication so people feel informed, not confused. The priority isn’t perfection, it’s consistency.
If you want support
If you’re reading this and thinking, “I want to start the year steadier than I finished last year”, then let’s talk. My work speaking, coaching and supporting leaders across is built around helping teams feel safe, supported and organised. You can reach out via the contact page or, if you’re ready to bring this into your workplace, you can make a time with me through the booking page.
The year ahead isn’t waiting. It’s being shaped right now by every choice you make.
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